Notes on Wellington’s Cavalry in the Peninsula: 12th Light Dragoons (Prince
of Wales’s)

Of
some note all of the six cavalry regiments that arrived during this year, and
seemingly all at Lisbon, had a steadily recorded month by monthly landing. This
regiment will immediately become brigaded with 1st Dragoons and be
led by Major General John Slade; its senior Captain Frederick Dickens being
present no doubt led the regiment itself at this time. With Slade’s Brigade
having little in the way of permanent structure the inclusion of 12th Light Dragoons has occured as 13th and 14th Light
Dragoons have just departed elsewhere, after a few weeks go by it is possible
that Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Ponsonby has relieved Captain Dickens of his
role the former recently appointed leader having travelled up from Cadiz
sometime during August. With only patrol duties on the Agueda/Azava River lines
there is no real action to report, it can be seen however that the effective
strength of 12th Light Dragoons will show them at:

25th August 1811 [on
the Azava River Line]
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330

While
others have been busy during late September holding back the initiatives of
Marshal Marmont’s great cavalry sweeps to the west of this river line in his
attempts to discover Wellington’s dispositions and strengths Slade Brigade with
the heavy cavalry of Major General George De Grey being positioned to the rear has
found no action at all. Coming forward onto Fuente Guinaldo to present a strong
defense of that place late on 26th September they will encounter
the briefest of confrontations with troopers of Montbrun’s force, the light is
already fading as 12th Light Dragoons have a brush with these men
losing two troopers wounded and in the evening gloom four more ‘go-missing. They
then hold there until the enemy decides for a retirement resulting in a return
westward at some leisure and to find winter quarters by the lower Mondego
valley.

During
this winter period more changes are made to brigade compositions, 12th Light Dragoons have come out of Slade’s brigade to join Major General George
Anson’s brigade with 14th and 16th Light Dragoons a real
pair of veterans, Anson himself goes absent so that Lieutenant Colonel
Frederick Ponsonby who has had some violent previous experience as a Major with
23th Light Dragoons at Talavera and small field experiences down by Cadiz takes
up this brigade.

Winter
passes and in response to the movements ordered by Wellington as he begins to
invest the great fortress city of Badajoz, Cuidad Rodrigo having already fallen
to siege and storm, all available cavalry units begins to come into the field. For
Ponsonby Brigade this sees them as a part of Lieutenant General Thomas Graham’s
Corps combination designed to protect the theatre beyond the Guadiana towards
the south.

25th February 1812 [moving
south of the Guadiana]
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292

By
late February 1812 they will go by Covilhao taking slow marches to cross the
Guadiana River by 16th March accompanied by the heavy brigade of
Major General John Le Marchant, Graham has them forward enough at Santa Marta
to touch the French units of General Drouet/D’Erlon as they retire before them.
Nothing of note occurs by this and three days later the whole of Graham’s
cavalry screen spreads to Llerena/Usagre eventually settling centred on
Almendralejo where events such as the storm and capture of Badajoz to the north
and the approach of hostile forces brought up by Marshal Soult and General
Drouet begin to demand attention.

Already
Graham has been instructed to fall back on Albuera coming into contact with
elements of Lieutenant General Hill southern force so that as the forward
cavalry of these opposing forces meet a clash must occur. At Villagarcia on 11th April there is a rather mild combat that sees Ponsonby’s Brigade in action upon
coming upon General Drouet’s cavalry units of Lallemand and Perreymond near
Llerena, the engagement promises to be fairly balanced until Brigadier Le
Marchant coming on from a flank pathway with his heavy cavalry collapses the
enemy into disorder and hurried retreat, this, more by chance than design
seeing that their overall commander Major General Stapleton Cotton had hoped
for a much more sweeping victory by entrapment but for Ponsonby’s alleged ill-timed
urgency. A second charge is delivered with all three Regiments present, this
must have been driven home as Captain Dickens scores a wound while as many as
fifty others of the whole Brigade record injuries but without an individual regimental
count. We are made aware that in this engagement it was Captain Frederick
Dickens that had led in the troopers of 12th Light Dragoons and had
received the pleasured notice of Commander Cotton in this, effective numbers
about this time could have been no more than’

25th April 1812 [shortly
after the fight about Llerena]
PAB
239

As
spring turns into full summer numbers improve and Graham’s corps is directed
north to begin its movements that would lead on to the so called Salamanca
campaign, by 9th July Major General George Anson is noted as having
returned to pick up his cavalry brigade the composition having been changed, 14th Light Dragoons is gone replaced by 11th Light Dragoons, that thus
joins 12th and 16th Light Dragoons.

Here
they are then for a while ahead of 6th Division infantry by
Tordesillas on the River Douro, serious manoeuvring with the substantial Army
of Portugal led by Marshal Marmont is under way, a few days later while part of
a rearguard with Light Division infantry they are called upon to make what they
can of a lack of communication while travelling thus near to Castrejon.

Their
overall cavalry commander Stapleton Cotton has not been told of a move by the
main bulk of the army that has thus left them and particularly the greater part
of 4th Division infantry and their attendant horse artillery Captain
Ross Brigade well behind and in danger from a fast moving French column coming
upon them in the shallow valley of the easily forded Guarena watercourse.

Wellington
himself and members of his staff including Marshal Beresford seeing the dilemma
late are coming across to discover how this can have happened while 12th Light Dragoons with two of Ross’s HA guns are making good time to also
intervene, confusion reigns while the CIC and his small group has to draw
swords while evading disaster. In the ensuing clash 12th Light
Dragoons are broken followed by newly joined brigade companions 11th Light Dragoons who only stand briefly both having turned about it is said due
to a command error but then upon seeing the weak strength of their immediate opposition
come around again to deal successfully as the situation is seen to balance to
advantage. All however must get off before the enemy can recover to see its
overall superiority in numbers, the journey to safety being a full eight miles
away while Le Marchant’s heavy cavalry brigade is able to join the
‘disengagement’ and rank and file infantry of 4th Division who are
left to save the day bring up the rear. In 12th Light Dragoons
Adjutant/Lieutenant John Gitterick had been seriously wounded while of the
seventeen trooper casualties five had been killed, one made prisoner and the
rest wounded, all on 18th July 1812.

18th July 1812 [after
the combat at Castrejon]
PAB
295

Just
four days later Anson’s Brigade has found itself on the field in full array
before the rolling Arapiles hills to the south east of Salamanca, they are in a
central almost reserve position well to the rear of 5th Infantry
Division, the day is well advanced before battle is joined which, as it rapidly
develops sees them trot forward into clouds of dust within which men are giving
their lives, notably men of Marmont’s Army of Portugal who are soon in no state
to defend themselves. So it is that the troopers of 12th Light
Dragoons find themselves collecting distraught prisoners that have lost the
will to resist, not however before Captain Dickens has been dispatched and two
of his most forward men killed also, for the rest it will be only necessary for
them to take ground while conducting enemy infantrymen to the rear. In the
confusion it seems that two troopers, most likely up with Captain Dickens are
lost and presumed to have got so far in advance as to be taken prisoner
themselves, thus being recorded as missing.

The
very next day Anson’s cavalry is on the move, their CIC in close company
intending to find the beaten survivors of the Army of Portugal, discovering
that the bridge over the river at Alba de Tormes had been abandoned the
previous day they cross to come up to Garcia Hernandez where infantry under
General Foy is retiring as rearguard. They are being sheltered by chasseurs
under General Curto, with hardly an order being necessary these men come about
to show a defensive line on some high ground preparing to receive a charge,
this comes at them composed of 11th and 16th Light
Dragoons who make short work of it, Curto’s troopers after the drubbing of the
previous day were in no condition to become heroes. Meanwhile down in the lower
ground a drama is about to unfold, 12th Light Dragoons however is
not involved in either the one or the other, this becoming the famous breaking
of infantry squares by squadrons of KGL Dragoons requiring its own tale to be
told in its own place.

With
what has become General Bertrand Clausel’s army, no longer ‘of Portugal’
retiring ever northward we will by 28th July see Anson’s Brigade
pass through Arevalo to come up to and cross the River Douro the following day
by Boecillo and so into Valladolid.

All
of this and later movements have little influence tactically, the victors of
the battle at the Arapiles begin to separate, Clinton’s infantry of 6th Division have been dealt a major blow at the hands of Ferey’s men in the dusk
of that encounter and must be nurtured so that instead of becoming part of
Wellington’s drive onto Madrid they come, rather gently, up to the banks of the
Douro along with a handful of new battalions still learning the import of the
CIC’s ideas on regularity. For 12th Light Dragoons and Anson’s
Brigade there is much to do on patrol/outpost duty while Clausel and his
Brigadiers sensing a relaxation of his enemy’s drive begins to feel out
‘soft-spots’ where they might re-gain some advantage. General Maximilian Foy is
a perfect tool to use in such an enterprise so that his men are put to his
usual hard marching that just as usually turns to very little effect. Serious
movement only occurs after Wellington has returned from Madrid to come up to
the Douro by 6th September whereby we see Anson’s Brigade only four
days later up the Pisuerga River closing on Clausel before Dueñas, going on to
find the city of Palencia abandoned by the French who are making to cross the
river at Torquemada. It is here that the ever busy scribe Lieutenant, now
Captain, Tomkinson of 16th Light Dragoons complains of inaction
where he had expected that opportunities to attack should ever be accepted,
this where a Brigade of French chasseurs had ‘offered themselves’.

This
campaign up to the Castle of Burgos would in its time provide enough of that
for everyone.

The
investment, siege and attempted escalades of this tiny clump of battlements
controlling the crossing of the River Arlanzon ran their courses with almost no
mention of the exploits of Brigadier George Anson and his men excepting that
two days before the whole thing was abandoned Lieutenant Colonel Frederick
Ponsonby of 12th Light Dragoons while out on perimeter duty at
Monasterio in preparation for the retreat was wounded, his Regiment, at this
time down to a fragile two squadrons was to be an active part of the rearguard
once able to get away onto the road south. By this time the enemy was more than
ready to mount its ejection of Wellington’s ill conceived siege and to inflict
as much punishment as its far superior force could manage, here we are then at
23rd October 1812 and the opening phase of a retreat that would only
end once behind the Agueda and safety in Portugal thirty six days later.

Curto’s
Division of Light Cavalry made up the vanguard with General Maucune’s Infantry
Division close behind while luckily for Anson’s men Brigadier Lieutenant Colonel
Hugh Halkett’s KGL 1st and 2nd Light infantry battalions
were no great distance in front and for the rest it came down to the Lancers of
Julian Sanchez along with a guerrilla band of irregulars now led by Puente, he
having ‘dispatched’ his chief in a ‘dispute’. All are by the Hormaza stream and
are about to join the combat of Venta Del Pozo, [a house close by] first to
join will be Halkett’s men as usual making the best of the plentiful cover to
delay any thoughts of an easy thrust while Anson’s Light Dragoons, much in the
minority made short stabbing charges before being able to retire beyond the
bridge. It was to be several hours before the French could make their superior
numbers felt but once beyond this first shock and coming into favourable open ground
it was enough that Anson’s men were able to shelter the KGL infantry going
back repeatedly, and for some four miles we are told. A later dispatch from
Wellington praised the work of Stapleton Cotton here that had made best use of
his inferior numbers this to be merely an introduction as the French General
Merlin brought on his Brigade to make a right flank move, he dislodged Puente’s
guerillero’s who ran in on 16th Light Dragoons and in the confusion
their Colonel Raymond Pelly and a handful of his men were captured. Steadily
reinforcements gathered on both sides, the French of Faverot’s Brigade with a
mix of Lancers, Chasseurs and Gendarmes of Legion, some ten squadrons all told
passed the bridge to form a broad line while on higher ground Bock’s KGL
Dragoons stood attended by Bull’s horse artillery that at a time most useful
was unable to get into action due to being masked by troopers of Anson’s
Brigade that only slowly came into a fighting line being somewhat disordered by
their prolonged combative situation. So it was that as the KGL Dragoons began
their charge and Anson’s men rather falteringly followed in echelon a contact
of probably more than 1000 horsemen came together. This on-going affair has now
become the combat at Villadrigo and a general melee ensues while being
gradually forced to lose ground as the much more fresh enemy squadrons became
involved, in all of this, while others of Anson’s Brigade suffered heavily 12th Light Dragoons came away losing just 20 men all told from which only one
officer Lieutenant Anselin Taylor was recorded wounded. As darkness saw the
end of this violent activity and with this Regiment down to an effective two
squadrons they would in all probability stand down at or about:

Passing
through Torquemada the next day they would be needed to encourage many of the
none too steadily retreating infantrymen and no doubt a few of their own number
to leave behind the remains of the 1812 vintage descended on by the army the
previous night.

The
next few days they are not mentioned as playing a part in the rearguard actions
brought on as the river crossings of the Pisuerga and the Carrion had to be
negotiated. By the end of the month there has been a settling down behind the
Douro with a further week or so of indecision as Hill’s Corps begins to come in
from their own retreat from Madrid; the French are not confirmed as to numbers
threatening from both the north and the east so that it must be the case that
Wellington’s light cavalry have been unable to probe forward to discover the
weight of the forces against them. It will be as late as 14th November before there is any sign of Anson’s Brigade; they will have come down
as far as the approaches to San Cristobal and the area north of the Tormes and
Salamanca while away to the south Marshal Soult is readying his men to cross
that river almost without opposition. Rapidly during the next day down they
come to occupy a part of the high ground on the Arapiles along with three other
brigades of cavalry whilst it becomes obvious that a show of force here is just
that and no more, baggage is sent off heading for the roads back to the
Portuguese frontier while a general retreat will begin the next day. Captain Tomkinson
of 16th Light Dragoons, a great diarist/critic in all things
military and an observant officer in Anson’s Brigade is scathing of the events
that are to follow, he notes that the Commissars are gone completely from their
own retirement route and that this road thus leaves others down which the
infantry pass to have scant rearguard protection and certainly no sustenance. The
trudge through the mud, the constant rain and the reported breaking down of the
horses whilst remembered by many is not reflected in the official returns that
continue to show numbers unreal to say the least.

Once
behind the Agueda and a few days of rest off they go deep into Portugal as far
as the lower Mondego below Oporto where they remain throughout the winter
period during which, by an Order of 13th March 1813 one of their
brigade partners 11th Light Dragoons was ordered to stand down,
relinquish its horses and related equipment and return to England. By a complex
arrangement these mounts and those from three other cavalry regiments were
drafted into cavalry regiments remaining in the rear cantoned areas,
surprisingly there is no corresponding rise in numbers recorded by AGO in its
monthly returns to Horse Guards. As the spring begins to herald the up-coming summer
campaign weather Major General George Anson with now just 12th and
16th Light Dragoons find numbers have been rising slowly throughout
this in-active period so that as this Brigade finally begins to change quarters
and crosses the Douro we see Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Ponsonby’s 12th Light Dragoons by the beginning of May standing at:

1st May 1813 [north
of the Douro by Braga]
PUA
330

A
fortnight later they are on the march through Braganza and onto the rough paths
approaching the Spanish/Portuguese frontier where they cross the River Manzanas
undisturbed by any enemy presence going on amongst the vanguard of Lieutenant
General Thomas Graham’s left/northern flank Corps up to the River Elsa crossing
by pontoon on 1st June as the river had at the time been full from
upstream rains. Advancing northward uneventfully for two further weeks Anson’s
Brigade cross the River Ebro with his foremost diarist Captain Tomkinson of 16th Light Dragoons extolling the grandeur of the scenery and more importantly the
ready access of provisions not seen in the previous campaigns in the Peninsula.

Having
purposely avoided contact with the enemy in all of this long drive to the north
it was inevitable that as the French began to concentrate onto the Grande
Chausee with their ‘caravan’ of loot collected over their year by year occupation
a contact would take place, and so it was that by 18th June and
close by Osma, less than 20 miles from Vittoria an escort of troopers from
Anson’s Brigade go forward with Ramsay’s Horse Artillery and the light
infantrymen of the KGL to meet retiring units of General Honore Reille’s Corps.
With large numbers of opposing units of all arms collecting it was then a case
of finding a line to defend for King Joseph’s men and a way to attack it by
Wellington, we are made aware that Anson’s troopers having taken a route that
saw them going off north had to be re-directed bringing them down a little late
onto Murguia by the evening of 19th June in a heavy rainstorm. The
next day and covered by elements of Brigadier General Juan Longa’s ‘irregulars,
the day before the great battle on the River Zadorra is spent quietly when
compared with the hurried arrangements being made by many other of the
opposing forces. By now it will be as well to estimate the strength of Ponsonby’s
12th Light Dragoons as the great day dawns, all figures taken into
account regardless of Oman’s rather optimistic brigade count can only have them
standing at that of a month earlier:

21st June 1813 [at
the battle of Vittoria]
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330

Anson’s
Brigade has no significant part to play in the day’s violent events until the
defensive lines of King Joseph’s army begin to crumble, still up at the
northern end of affairs Longa’s Spanish force has already put an end to the
escape route directly north and Major General John Oswald with 5th Division infantry a little lower down the Zadorra has been finally able to cross
the hotly contested bridge at Gamorra Mayor from which the retreating men of
General Lamartiniere have finally relinquished their hold. Here we see for the
first time Anson introducing a squadron each of 12th and 16th Light Dragoons with the full support of the rest of the Brigade in an effort to
get as far forward as might become possible to cut off the general retreat that
is now seen to be developing.

The
area entered has before it wooded country so that men of General Reille’s
Corps, still in some order are able to mount a rearguard as all the rest make
their way in no order at all some way to the east of Vittoria, a regiment of Brigadier
Fririon’s men makes a stand forming square near Zurbano, and thus receives a
charge from the foremost of Anson’s troopers, driven off by this it appears
that any enthusiasm to persist from here onwards dies away after the last
pieces of artillery leaving the field are found abandoned. The 12th Light Dragoons in this final action of the battle have lost Cornet Abel Hammon [or
Hammond] killed with three of his men while eight more were wounded, they would
come to rest hereabouts and nowhere near the captured loot nor the riotous
scenes back at Vittoria as the day ended:

21st June 1813 [after
the battle of Vittoria]
PAB
318

Just
three days later they are to be found pursuing a convoy of ‘valuables’ under
escort by General Maximilien Foy as they approach Villafranca, there is a
combat to be endured, broken off and repeated at Tolosa where a more serious
attempt to capture is frustrated with little or no work for cavalry, the
‘valuables’ escape bringing to an end this encounter with no recorded loss to
the troopers of 12th Light Dragoons. They do however lose their
Brigadier George Anson who on 2nd July steps down for them to
receive a new commander Major General John Vandeleur. Between Late August and
September a large contingent of re-mounts, no less than 160 horses have come
into 12th Light Dragoons so that this sees this cavalry Regiment
able to present its highest number of ‘effectives’ since entering the
Peninsular theatre.

September
1813 [in
quarters north of Passages]
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441

By
the advent of the late autumn as Marshal Soult’s defence responsibilities have
increased beyond the capacity of his abilities to hope of success we see the
entry of Wellington’s burgeoning forces into French soil by the crossing of the
Bidassoa River. It is early on the morning of 7th October 1813 with
orders to a couple of squadrons of 12th Light Dragoons to cross the
shallowest of waters at low tide at the very westerly end of the frontier made
by the broad estuary of this moderate watercourse. This it seems by near
surprise, the water depth a mere three feet, without casualties as other far
more serious incursions occur inland and with such weight that resistance is
predictably minimal.

By
the onset of winter little can be expected of the men of the mounted arm of the
service, Vandeleur Brigade however will, no doubt, on 10th November in
crossing the River Nivelle by Saint Jean de Luz at a bridge thereby have that
opportunity provided by their brigade partners 16th Light Dragoons
who had prevented its destruction by the retiring enemy. As a part of their
task of covering the movements of 5th Division infantry they will by
the second week of December have moved ahead of that fighting force to explore
the sand-dune country on the coast running up to the estuary of the River
Ardour where forward planning had envisioned a crossing in force to embarrass
the garrison occupying that military strong post Bayonne. Although heavy and
prolonged infantry and artillery fighting has developed on the River Nive
between 10th and 13th December and most certainly for the
infantrymen of 5th Division there will be no work for the cavalry
arm so that as all of this dies down it will be a search for comfortable
quarters to see them through the worst of the winter that they concentrate
their energies on. Numbers will show some success for their efforts so that by
the time that we hear of Vandeleur’s Brigade returning to the field they will
show:

2nd February 1814 [up
by the left bank of the Ardour]
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426

Lieutenant
General John Hope the ever optimistic leader of the Army Corps of the Left Wing
as soon as the weather shows signs of allowing him to activate the CIC’s
desires has decided that his time has come and begins to assemble all of his
resources, along with Army, Navy and all willing local seafarers on the
Atlantic coast hereabouts to build a rope-hawser bridge at the most western end
of possibility. This involves cavalry it seems so that Vandeleur Brigade gets
to be amongst the throng of bridge builders but, of course with little or no
information of how this might be. Utilising boats and eventually rafts being
towed across we see that they begin to come ashore on the northern/right bank
by 23rd February, numbers in 12th Dragoons show a
reduction by a mere 40 ‘effectives’ so, it must be seen as a great success.